Cathy Liska As with anyone in a leadership role, for Project Managers coaching is a specifically developed that enhances results and improves efficiency. Specifically, coach training includes information on identifying and adjusting to different personal styles, communicating effectively, motivating others, and managing progress and accountability.
Ruth Pearce mapped the Project Management Institute (PMI) Standard for Project Management and the International Coach Federation (ICF) Core Competencies. The mapping demonstrates the intrinsic benefits to project managers of coaching training and specifically how coaching skills align with project management skills.
This goes beyond the general recognition in the PMBOK 6thEdition that project managers must be leaders and that leadership qualities and skills include:
- Communicating Optimism and Positivity
- Modeling collaboration
- Building Trust
- Communicating effectively and timely
- Managing expectations
- Exhibiting integrity and being culturally sensitive
- Nurturing relationships
- Asking & Listening
- Giving & receiving feedback
- Balancing competing & opposing goals
The PMI Talent Triangle comprises three components:
Technical Project Management – The knowledge, skills, behaviors related to specific domains of a project (see below). The technical aspects of preforming the role of project manager.
Leadership– The knowledge, skills and behaviors needed to guide, motivate, and direct a team to help an organization to achieve its business goals. 
Strategic & Business Management– The knowledge of and expertise in the industry and organization that enhance performance and better deliver desired business outcomes.
The role of a project manager aligns naturally with the skills and techniques of coaching. The table below demonstrates the direct relationship between the responsibilities of a project manager and ICF Coaching Competencies. A project manager qualified as a coach will be more confident, more effective, and their projects more successful. As individuals, project managers trained as coaches will be engaged and engaging which benefits them their teams, their stakeholders, and the organization overall.
Coaching Competencies Mapped to PMI Standards
The Project Management Institute states that project managers “use their skills and expertise to inspire a sense of shared purpose with the project team.” Coaching is the most effective way of inspiring both shared purpose and follow-through.
The Center for Coaching Certification is a Registered Education Provider with PMI.
The Center for Coaching Certification’s Certified Professional Coach program is approved for Professional Development Units with PMI.
